UFO of the Rising Sun

The following intriguing investigation was conducted and reported to me back in 1977 by cryptozoologist Ron Schaffner of Ohio:

Rising Sun, Indiana:

“Mr. T. was lying in his bed, half awake and half sleeping, when he heard a noise that sounded like a great surge of electricity. Upon looking out the window, he saw a streak of light coming out of the transformer on the telephone line out back. Next, the power ceased in the neighborhood.

After this, he heard another strange sound. About 50 feet from the transformer he saw a massive yellow object with red lights. The object was at tree top level, moving at a slow pace.

He continued to observe the object as it seemed to circle his block. The object was first noticed just east of his house and was starting to move towards the south in the direction of the Ohio River. The time duration was about 45 minutes. At this time, he decided to go open the front door to get a better look. When he did ths, he did not see the object at first, and then he saw it coming from behind the trees.

“To give an estimate on how high this thing was, I know for a fact that the trees are about 30 feet,” Mr. T. said.

The object had moved to a southwest direction and hovered for what seemed like another hour. It would descend and ascend at different times. By this time, he started to feel kind of sick and his eyes started to water and burn. He had this awful taste in his mouth, like sulfur or the smell of a car battery. His back started to hurt real bad.

The object took off in the northwest and as it did, the wind kicked up in a real fast swirling motion. The trees were bent over. He also noticed after the wind died down and even during the sighting that there were no insect or animal sounds. There are a lot of dogs always barking in the neighborhood, but at this particular time, there were no sounds except for the strange noise of the object.

After this, he awoke his wife and asked if she smelled that sulfur odor. At first, she said no, but after awhile she claimed to have smelled it too.

Additional facts and evaluation

Mr. T’s experience is typical of close encounters. Buzzing head, slight hearing problem, mild conjunctivitis, and sick feeling are all common in this type case. The witness has a magnetic field around him, which probably is related to severe electrical shocks he has encountered.

The transformer that Mr. T. referred to is on the back side of his house and indeed the power failure was due to the fact of a faulty transformer. Later, to be backed up by the Lawrenceburgh Power Company, the transformer that Mr. T saw the beam of light and heard the surge was the faulty transformer.

There were no other witnesses, due mostly because people go to bed quite early in small rural towns. Mrs. T did smell the sulfur odor that was so strong. Most of the town did not even know of a power failure, until the next day.

Mr. T contacted me before anyone else, because he was given my name and telephone number by a woman who was involved in another one of my cases.

Mr. T and his wife seem like sincere people, with average intelligence. He is a self- employed mechanic. He did not make any official report to the police due to fear of ridicule.

In a letter dated June 2, 1977, Ron Schaffner noted the following:

“The witness seems to have a strong electromagnetic field around his body. He can’t wear a watch, as it will stop within a day and when Earl [another investigator...ed] put his compass and mine next to him it shows a 7 - 12 point deviation.”